This invaluable book provides detailed advice and activities to promote communication skills of secondary school aged children
Secondary Language Builders provides detailed advice and activities to encourage the communication skills of 11-16 year olds. It has been written to be accessible to teachers, teaching assistants and parents and, with help, the students themselves.
Many aspects of communication are covered including:
Understanding memory and learning
Using visual strategies and considering independent learning
Helping students to understand spoken language
Using strategies to improve vocabulary learning
Using strategies to improve sentence structure and grammar
Finding ideas to structure written work
Supporting preparation for tests and exams
Coping with social communication and social situations
Understanding what is involved in speaking clearly and helping students with their speech.
The book is illustrated.
Secondary Language Builders forms the core reading material for the accredited course ‘Speech and Language Support for 11-16s’.
As with all Elklan materials having purchased the book you are free to photocopy any relevant pages so equipping others who work within your school or health provision.

This excellent resource makes this complex area of language development accessible to non-specialist staff. fAll those working in the field will appreciate the clear explanations and practical support and advice for those working and living with children at the pre-intentional and intentional stages of communication as far as beginning to use first words. The book explores a wide range of issues concerning children who have little or no means of expressing themselves verbally.
Language Builders for Complex Needs provides ideas for assessment and recording progress as well as detailed advice and practical activities. It is written for speech and language therapists, teachers, teaching assistants, pre-school practitioners and parents.
The book examines the characteristic communication skills, the interaction required and the thinking and play skills that need nurturing at each of the following stages:
Pre-Intentional Communication.
Being able to anticipate events.
Intentional Communication.
It also considers:
The link between play and language.
Total Communication – signs, symbols, Communication Passports, and briefly, Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Using first words, ideas and phrases.

This invaluable book provides information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and gives detailed advice and activities to promote the communication and interaction skills of all verbal children with ASD.
It covers a wealth of knowledge and is beautifully illustrated to provide many practical strategies and ideas suitable for children at primary school as well as those in specialist provisions. It has been written to be accessible to parents, learning support assistants, teachers and other professionals who work in this field. It is the training material for those completing the Elklan ASD specilaist course but is also a stand alone publication and is useful for all practitioners.
Amongst the topics covered are:
What is autism?
Using structure with children with ASD.
Developing communication.
Working with Information Carrying Words to develop the length of sentences a child can understand.
Developing verbal reasoning in children with ASD.
Using vocabulary maps and Mind Maps, the latter devised by Tony Buzan.
Developing interaction through using Comic Strip
Conversations as devised by Carol Gray.
Helping children learn how to speak in a social context.
Understanding that children with ASD often communicate most effectively through their behaviour.
As with all Elklan materials having purchased the book you are free to photocopy any relevant pages so equipping others who work within your school or health provision.